RACE TO JUDGMENT

The crossfire of an ongoing feud between the NAACP and the Tea Party turned ugly on Tuesday, ending with the unexpected casualty of an innocent government employee.

Shirley Sherrod, a black Agriculture Department employee, was seen on Tuesday in a videotaped speech to a NAACP group admitting that because of her racial views, she had not helped a white farmer save his land from foreclosure as much as she could have.  The Tea Party instantly jumped all over the video, which went viral and took the Internet by storm the entire day.  Public reaction was swift and came from all sides.  The Tea Party used her remarks to diminish public sentiment that perhaps the Tea Party itself was racist.  The NAACP issued an immediate statement denouncing Ms. Sherrod’s views and making it clear their organization has a zero tolerance policy against racism.  Even the White House reacted sharply, with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack requesting and getting Ms. Sherrod’s immediate letter of resignation.  There was only one problem — the perception of Sherrod’s racial views WASN’T true.  It was a SET-UP!

You see, the videotape of Ms. Sherrod that made the rounds on the web was not at all current.  It was made public by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart and was of a situation from over 20 years ago — BEFORE Sherrod was a USDA government employee.  The videotape was also only a partial edit, which showed her explaining how racial insensitivity against her late father (also a farmer) made her so angry at the time, that she did not help one particular white farmer as much as she could have. But what the video clip conveniently left out was Ms. Sherrod saying that while in the midst of working with this white farmer, she realized it was not a black/white issue, but rather a rich/poor issue.  So in a moment of revelation, she learned a valuable lesson and actually ended up doing EVERYTHING she could to help the farmer and his family. Even after 20 years, the farmer and his wife were still so grateful for her efforts, they appeared on various news programs throughout the day to sing Ms. Sherrod’s praises for helping them save their farm.  Happy ending? NO!  By the end of the day Ms. Sherrod was out of a job, and all because of a half-truth spread through modern media.

“They asked me to resign, and in fact they harassed me as I was driving back to the state office from West Point, Georgia, yesterday,” Sherrod said. The last call “asked me to pull to the side of the road and do it [resign],” she added. “I don’t feel good about it, because I know I didn’t do anything wrong.” Secretary Vilsack said on Tuesday that he “didn’t speak to anyone at the White House. … I made this decision, it’s my decision. Nobody from the White House contacted me about this at all.”  A White House official confirmed that “the White House did not pressure her or the USDA over the resignation. It was the secretary’s decision, as he has said.” And Roger Spooner, the white farmer who was saved by Sherrod from foreclosure 24 years ago said “I don’t know what brought up the racist mess. If it hadn’t been for her, we would’ve never known who to see or what to do. She led us right to our success.”

So to summarize, a finger-pointing feud between the Tea Party and the NAACP caused the Tea Party to find and splice a video clip of Shirley Sherrod telling a local NAACP group how she didn’t want to help a white farmer as much as she could, due to her racial views.  The NAACP took the bait and spoke too soon against the tape, before viewing it and learning the truth for themselves.  Everyone from the White House to the Agriculture Dept. raced to condemn the remarks, so as to show just how anti-racism they are.  And in the end, Shirley Sherrod was used as a pawn to make a point.  Her words were concocted to cause a stir.  And so today, Shirley Sherrod is an innocent and UNEMPLOYED victim of a grossly unfair race to judgment.

The Tea Party should be ashamed of themselves for using an innocent party for their own gain. The NAACP should be ashamed of themselves for wanting to be so ahead of the story, they failed to educate themselves on the facts before handing down condemnation.  And Agriculture Secretary Vilsack should be ashamed of himself for forcing the resignation of one of his employees before giving them the benefit of the doubt to present the truth.  ALL of them are guilty and in need of atonement.  And it should start with Vilsack immediately reinstating Shirley Sherrod back to her former position.  In light of this bizarre comedy of errors, it’s the only rightful and AMERICAN thing to do.

BREAKING NEWS:  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has issued a direct formal apology to Shirley Sherrod and has offered her a position within the USDA.  

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